A few days ago, activists from the transnational No Borders network and the French organisation SôS Soutien aux Sans Papiers have opened a large warehouse for migrants in Calais as a response to the ongoing repression against the migrants in Calais by the authorities.
Update 6 Feb: The Kronstadt Hangar is now up and running. On Saturday afternoon police tried to keep any migrants from attending the space by building lines in the street. However, about 150 migrants ignored the police and gathered in the space with tea and coffee.
Recordings from Press Conference in London | Guardian Comment Is Free article, 04/02/10 | Press Release | Brighton NoBorders response to the Daily Mail | More News from Calais
The building is to be an autonomous space for migrants and activists struggling for the right to freedom of movement. It will be host to information-sharing, debate and practical solidarity. The "Kronstadt building" is located in the town that has become the symbol of Fortress Europe, a place where police arrests and
beatings of migrants are a daily occurrence, and where night-time pursuits are relentless.
By this act, we stand in solidarity with those for whom border and immigration control is a discriminatory, oppressive and unjust reality.
The space i not, as the conserative british press has dubbed it, a "new Sangatte". It is a self-organised space to support freedom of movement, not to provide aid on behalf of a government.
( see Brighton NoBorders response to the article in the Daily Mail from yesterday http://nobordersbrighton.blogspot.com/2010/01/not-that-old-sangatte-ii-t... )
Of course, help is needed. If you want to support the space by either travelling to Calais, help to raise awareness or organise a supporting benefit or otherwise please contact
for more information and updates, see
http://london.noborders.org.uk
about the situation in calais, see
http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com
[1] press release : http://london.noborders.org.uk/node/282